Tractor hitch of the automatic coupling type having connection facilitating means



July.22, 1958 1.. SMITH 2,844,390 TRACTOR HITCH OF THE AUTOMATIC COUPLING TYPE HAVING CONNECTION FACILITATING MEANS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Now 30, 195a IN V EN TOR.

BY leanaz dl. Smith y 22, 8 1.. L. SMITH 2,844,390

TRACTOR HITCH OF THE AUTOMATIC COUPLING TYPE HAVING CONNECTION FACILITATING MEANS Filed NOV. 30, 1956 v 2 Sheets-Sheet 2,

IN V EN TOR.

5 leanardl. J'ml'tll.

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TRACTOR HITCH OF THE AUTOMATIC COU- PLING TYPE HAVING CONNECTION FAClLIe TATINGMEANS y Leonard L. Smith, Denver, Pa.

. iC i s- 2 -417) This .invention relates to a tractor hitch and, more particularly, to improvements in such hitch so as tov facilitate locking of the hitch to an implementeven though the two are not in horizontal alignment and to elfect such locking in an automatic manner.

Anoutstandingdisadvantage of conventional tractor.

hitches is that the tongue or other-connecting element of the implement, or other -device drawn by the tractor,

must be carefully adjusted in height to correspond tothe height of the hitch connectionbefore the two canbe:

brought'togetherand locked- This -is.a laborious. and

time consuming task, particularly in-the .case. of heavy.

implements. Furthermore manual locking means have been conventionally'used to elfect locking which is also.- time consumingand involves considerable manual efiort. Anobject of the pr'esentinvention is;to provide a'novel" tractor hitch which is devoid of .the above mentioned dis: advantages and which is easily and quickly connected or disconnected, irrespective of the lack of vertical alignment of the connectible members of thetractor hitch and implement. a.

A. morespecific object of theinvention is to provide a novel guide means for' atractor, hitch which guide the ton'gue'or connectingm'emberfof theiimplemen't into proper connecting position and will. automatically "lock the two togetherwithout' the necessity of handling the connectible members. 1 I .7 p p Afurther' object'of the invention is to provide a' fold able stand for holding the tongue of an implement in elet implement 1 has rigidly secured there- Ap nanon November 50, 1956,Serial No. 625, 29 1 to aiconne'cting member Shaving a lower'cut out portion 3a forming a well or seat for accommodating the leg 4 which is pivotally mounted on member-3. Member 3 has an integral; coupling ring '3b for. connection to the tractorhitch.

' The .ytractor hitch comprises .a body portion 5 of steel or. other suitable material .rigidly secured tothe tractor andtwhich' is provided withpa vertical'bore 6 through whichla re'tractible plunger 7 isadapt'ed to slide. Plunger 7. is 'p'rovidedi with: a horizontally. extending pin 7a, best seen in Fig. 4, to the ends of which are'connected the top endsof'helical springs 8. -'.-The .bottomends of springs 8 are'connected-to horizontal-pins, 10 rigidly secured to bodyS. v

formed at the bottom and side portion A. notch 11 is of pin '.7: for' la'tchingengagement with a horizontally .slidable latch.13.which is biased to the-left,.as viewed in Fig.4 by meansof spring 14 seated in a horizontal groove formed inbody5-.- v

On the top of body 5 there are mounted two cam guide rails. 15 for guiding "a cam 19 horizontally in a forward or rearward direction, which cam is connected by a cam control rod1167to alever; 17 which is biased rearwardly by areturn spring'18, 2;. 2L

-In,operation,' when. the parts are in the unlocked positionshown in'Fig. l;- the tractor is backed up toward atedu qs q wh ch tand is utqma ica v ollap ib Other objects and advantages of the invention will be i come more apparent from the study of the following description taken with the accompanying drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a vertical elevational view, partly in section, of a tractor hitch embodying the principles of the present invention and showing the locking pin in retracted or latched position prior to coupling to an implement.

Figure 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 except that it shows I the locking pin in the unlatched position so as to lock the implement to the tractor and also showing the implement stand in the collapsed position.

Figure 3 is a top view of the device shown in Fig. 1. Figure 4 is an elevational view as viewed from the left of Fig. 2 and seat 5a.

Figure 5 is an elevational view, partly in section, of a K jack for facilitating lifting and lowering movement of the connecting member of the implement.

Referring more particularly to Figs. 1 and 3 of the drawing, numeral 1 generally denotes any drawn member such as an implement for tilling the soil, and numeral 2 denotes the rear end portion of a tractor, such as a draw the iimplementl until the coupling ring 3b of the implementstrikes-the vertically extending. element of latch 13'andmoves it; to the position-shown in Fig. 2 wherein itno longer latches pin- 7 Thereupon, by virtue of the and au s e itto collapse ,to theposition shown in Fig. 2, orinto. a higher; position-more .closely approaching well portion 3a, depending upon-.theangularity of'ramp' 23. The tractonrnay now-beqdriven forwardly to draw the lemen a nother 'gimphrtant feature of-the invention resides in 23 and 24 respectively. Ramps 23 and 24 are flared rearwardly and outwardly from the space between ramps 23 and 24 in a vertical plane, as shown, so that if tongue 3b is in a higher or lower position than that shown in Fig. 1 it will strike against either the upper or lower ramp and will be guided into seat 5a formed in body 5 immediately below latch 13. In order to guide tongue 312 if it is laterally offset relative to the seat 5a, angularly disposed guiding edges 2411 are provided (see Fig. 3) for horizontally directing or guiding coupling ring 3b to its Shim plates (not shown) may extend along edges 24b and may be sandwiched between ramps 23 and 24 if desired. Ramp 24 is preferably provided with a cut out portion 24a for allowing dirt to fall out that might be introduced by the coupling ring. Wing portions may be provided in the top corners of ramp 24, to further aid inward guiding of ring 3b, although such wings are not absolutely necessary.

After the implement 1 is locked to the hitchas shown in Fig. 2, in order to disconnect or uncouple the implement, control lever 17 is moved forwardly to the position as shown in dash lines thereby sliding cam 19 forwardly to position 21 and, in so doing, allowing roller 9 to roll on the top of the cam and to be moved vertically upwardly to the position shown in dash outline. As roller 9 is moved upwardly it will raise pin 7 to the re- Patented July 22, 1958 3 tracted position shown in Fig. 1. Latchv 13 will then be urged into latching position by spring 14. Control lever 17, when released, is then moved to the full line position by spring 18 'sothatpin 7 will'be freeto move. down wardly ,uponyu'nlatching of latch '-13'when:it:is" desired again to'repeat the operation and couple thercoupling ring3btothehitch.: Fig. 5 shows a jaclc'foitacilitating lifting and lowering movements of a connecting member of theimpl'ement:

A jack stand 25 is providedahaving teeth 27 engageable by pawl 25a. A pawl controlhandle'26 is provided with a lever 26b to lift and lowenthe frame 41 throughrod 260, which lever is pivotally biased to-the right'by spring 28which counterbalances the weight ofrfthe' jack." A link 29tconnects the leverrto a roller 30 used to pull the jack up,:which roller is guided by slots 31in horizontal frame 41. -A second pawl. 32. is used for lifting in the upward position which acts through rods 33. A coupling ring vided. which engages stand 25 to hold frame 41 at any selected height.

In operation, the tractor'and hitch as described above are backed up causing coupling ring-34 to ascend the ramp 23 of the hitch taking the weight'from the stand of the jack. The pawl control handle 26 is then squeezed thereby releasing the pawl 25a and the'lever 26b is pulled forwardly which-will run theforward roller 30 with the cable overit toward the'front lifting the jack stand to the upper position so thatthe pawl 32 will drop in the tooth 36 of the jack stand andhold'it there.

To unhook the implement; handle 26 is=squeezed to release the-pawl 32 and the lever 26b is pushed back,

whereupon the jack stand will drop-to the ground. The pawl 25a. will then drop in oneof the-teeth '27 and hold the stand about 14 inches lowers Thus it will be seen that 1 have'provided an efiicient a, tractor hitch which is automatic in operation so that the mere seating of the coupling elements will unlatch a locking pin to automatically lock them together; fur thermore I have provided a tractor hitch which may be remotely controlled from the drivers seat on the tractor so that coupling or uncoupling may be effected without the necessity of the drivers leaving his seat.

While I have illustrated and described several embodiments of my invention, it willbe understood that these are by way of illustration only, and that various changes and modifications may be made within the contemplation of my invention and within the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A tractor hitch comprising a body portion having a vertically extending hole, a locking pin slidable in said hole, a roller mounted on top of said pin and having an axle, a pair of springs whose upper ends are connected to the ends of said axle and the lower ends of which are connected to said body so astto bias the pin downwardly into lockingposition, a cam horizontally slidable on said body and engageable with said roller, a control lever for sliding said cam, a spring biased latch engageable in a notched out portion of said pin, and a seatformed in said body adjacent the lower endof said pin' for receiving a coupling ring of -a drawn implement, said latch .being engageable by said coupling ring to unlatch said pin and allow it to' move throughrsaid coupling ring and effect locking of the implement to the hitch.

2. A tractor hitchrasrecited in claim 1 together with a pair of vertically spaced guide ramps flared outwardly in the direction of the implementso as to strike against and guide said coupling ring toward said seat when not at the same level as the seat;

References Cited inthe file of this patent UNITED 5 STATES PATENTS 1,226,687 Mowry May22, 1917 1,626,993 Williams May 3, 1927 1,939,463 Rockinger Dec. 12, 1933 2,113,338 Wohldorf Apr. 5,1938 2,153,722 Loughmiller Apr. 11, 1939 2,339,746 Klaus et a1. May 7, 1946 2,474,483 Luttrell June 28, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS 488,969 Germany Jan. 10, 1930 832,105 Germany, Feb. 21, 1952 

